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You’ve probably heard countless times how exercise is “good for you.” But did you know that it can actually help you feel good, too? Getting the right amount of exercise can rev up your energy levels and even help improve your mood. Every exercise during a class at The Winged Dragon Martial & Healing Arts has a purpose. Even the most basic exercises (a wrist rotation, a push-up, or a stretch) deserve full focus and full attention.

Exercise benefits every part of the body, including the mind. Exercising causes the body to produce endorphins, chemicals that can help a person to feel more peaceful and happy. Exercise can help some people sleep better. It can also help some people who have mild depression and low self-esteem. Plus, exercise can give people a real sense of accomplishment and pride at having achieved a certain goal – like beating an old time in the 100-meter dash. Exercise helps people lose weight and lower the risk of some diseases. Exercising to maintain a healthy weight decreases a person’s risk of developing certain diseases, including type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. These diseases, which used to be found mostly in adults, are becoming more common in teens.

If you do an exercise to the best of your ability, you will do it better every time. Your exciting progress will become your new normal – your technique and your physical condition will constantly improve. If you do an exercise in a half-hearted manner, you will never improve. With the minimum amount of effort, you achieve your minimum potential.

As an instructor, the focus of your students is obvious. A person who is focused will maintain the proper stance – they will stand balanced, their eyes sharp, and their breathing controlled. You do not need to see someone’s punching technique to know how quickly they can learn the martial arts – all you need to see is how they do a wrist rotation. If they become bored or lose focus with a simple exercise, their progress will be slow and arduous.

The successful student will treat every exercise with respect – they will find the profound in the simple. A wrist rotation will challenge and sharpen not only their wrist movement, but also their understanding of their body and their self as a whole.

Every student wants to achieve great results – every student wants to get healthy, develop their technique, and improve their body – but few have the focus, persistence, and attention to detail necessary to make speedy progress.

We are a school for those who want to make real progress. Our exercises offer nothing extraneous, nothing unnecessary. Our exercises are refined and precise, and with the proper attention, they offer you the greatest opportunity to improve yourself.

For those who understand, our classes are always fun and always exhilarating. Practicing a back fist-punch-kick combo or a new Tai Chi form is rightfully invigorating, but there is truly nothing more exciting than real progress.